PSL leader defects to pro-EU camp after new land law

Jarosław Kalinowski, the leader of Polish Peasants Party (PSL) which was ditched from the government last month, has said he would support the country's entry to the European Union in June's referendum. Kalinowski threw his weight behind the country's EU membership campaign as Prime Minister Leszek Miller left for Athens where Poland yesterday signed the accession treaty. Kalinowski's declaration may signal that his PSL party is ready to declare its support for EU entry, a step that could boost pro-EU sentiment among the largely euroskeptic rural population from which the party derives much of its support. Kalinowski said he would support EU entry after President Kwaśniewski signed into law a PSL-backed bill, which puts restrictions on purchases of farming land. "This law strengthens Polish farmers and it protects their land... As the PSL's leader I can now say 'Yes' to the European Union," Kalinowski told a joint news conference with Kwaśniewski. (Reuters) A.K.